Hello, I'm Maorre and welcome to my guide for toplane Lee Sin. When I first started playing Lee Sin I mostly played him as a jungler but when I got to know top lane Lee Sin better I just fell in love. I find myself as a good Lee Sin player (although I can fail the easiest Sonic Wave sometimes), and he's my most played and favorite champion along with Riven and Fizz. My favorite position right now is toplane so I prefer lane Lee Sin over jungle although Lee is my main jungler in ranked.

Pros
- Good sustain with Iron Will
- Uses energy instead of mana
- Will win trades against (almost) everyone earlygame because of Safeguard Iron Will and Tempest Cripple
- You can make such sick plays
- Jumping to a ward with Safeguard works like a flash, making Sightstone a really useful item
- Super strong earlygame
- Has no hard counters

Cons
- Falls off lategame
- Sonic Wave can be somewhat hard to hit or/and easy to dodge

My standard rune choices are
x9 Greater Mark of Attack Damage or greater mark of armor penetration
x9 Greater Seal of Armor
x9 Greater Glyph of Magic Resist (or [[greater glyph of scaling magic resist] if you won't face any magic damage earlygame, but I prefee these runes for jungling)
x3 Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage


For masteries, you can go 21-9-0 or 9-21-0

I really like to start off with an Elixir of Fortitude, or just easily referred to as a red pot, along with four Health Potion and a sight ward, but you can also start the Rejuvenation Bead with six Health Potion and a sight ward or you can just go nine Health Potion and a sight ward. I do not recommend the "boots 3 pots" start in season 3. I like to get atleast one Doran's Blade the first time I go back, and also try to get The Brutalizer or even a B. F. Sword. You can get Boots wherever you want between your The Brutalizer and your first big item, Bloodthirster. I listed Bloodthirster as a core item but I've tried replacing it with a Ravenous Hydra and I think it's a good item if you want faster wave clearing and pushing. Iron Will makes you lifesteal from this item's active/passive from what I have understood. However, now it's time to get your Warmog's Armor, it's just so strong in season 3 and you really need tanky items for Lee Sin since you are gonna have to be a tank in lategame. It's time to pick your Mercury's Treads or Ninja Tabi now if you haven't already and from here your items depend on what your team needs and your opponents. For more damage, pick up a Last Whisper or/and the Black Cleaver. If you're facing heavy magic damage, get a Maw of Malmortius or a Mercurial Scimitar (not neccessary against low CC though. If you need armor, get Randuin's Omen, Sunfire Aegis or maybe even a Thornmail. A Guardian Angel is always good to have, although it isn't as strong as in season 2 anymore.
Now, let's talk about the Sightstone. You can pick this up whenever you want, I would count it as a core item. This gives you 4 free flashes (if you're familiar with Safeguard to wards) everytime you go back to base. The Ruby Sightstone just gives you one extra ward and some health, which means it's not always worth to upgrade it. So, as I said, buy this whenever you want/can and sell it lategame.

Each of Lee Sin's spells (except for Dragon's Rage) have two stages, if he succesfully lands the ability he can use the second stage within 3 seconds.

For toplane Lee Sin you can max either Safeguard Iron Will or Tempest Cripple. I used to always max W before, but after Iron Will got nerfed, they removed the armor bonus, E is a better choice to max against other bruisers.
You can still max W for better sustain and if you're getting harassed though.
Dragon's Rage> Tempest> Safeguard> Sonic Wave

Dragon's Rage> Safeguard> Tempest> Sonic Wave